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From threatening cage matches to backing RFK Jr., billionaires prove too much money detaches a person from reality

  • tallwookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    I’m all for automation but what do the people who are unemployable do (other than not work, lol)? how do they pay for the goods and services they need?

    we’re nowhere near a post-scarcity society. who/what mechanism pays for and/or creates the resources used by those people that can’t get their own resources because their purpose has been automated away?

    • ThetimefarmEnglish
      11·
      1 year ago

      Is arbitrary busy work a good answer? Because that’s the system we have now. Also production costs would drop dramatically after the initial investment which would make things cheaper. Of course none of the companies would actually lower prices unless they were forced to but that could be arranged.

      • tallwookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
        22·
        1 year ago

        eh… forcing companies to do something like that has the socialism stink stuck to it - no politician is going to ruin their life’s work by supporting socialism… unless they’re on death’s door/have nothing to lose, and really no one should anything they have to say at that point. no, I dont see that happening.

        I’m sure there’s quite a few meaningless/useless jobs out there - probably at least 30%, but if we automate them away (as with the recent snafu between movie studios and actors), then those people that have been obsoleted will need to find new things to do - preferably, things that positively contribute to society - but you can only have so many musicians, artists, poets, etc before their value is also devalued.

        some folks will try to claim that UBI has a place, but they never explain where the resources come from - the government cant just print more money, that leads to rampant inflation. so - how do we support people that have no purpose, no value? how do they eat? ultimately, I suspect that with enough automation and the looming overpopulation crunch, we’re in for a few really bad decades.